Exploring Brand Colors Of The 100 Top Companies for Inspiration
A guide to picking the right brand colors
Brand colors are an essential part of any company’s image. Once chosen, they become part of a company’s identity and help to shape how they are perceived by the public.
A company’s logo is often a customer’s first point of contact and this logo will be designed using brand colors. Therefore it’s important to make the right impression. Brand colors also regularly feature on websites, stores, ads, staff uniforms and merchandise. So it’s important that they really represent what your brand is about.
Why brands choose their brand colors
The vast majority of brands don’t just randomly decide on a color they like, they choose their brand colors for a reason. They want to convey a certain message to potential customers and they know that the right brand colors will help them to do that.
The colors they choose are often based on color psychology. Color psychology refers to the meanings we take from certain colors and the way colors make us feel. For example, blue is commonly seen as a calm and relaxing colour, while red is typically seen as energetic, dangerous and exciting.
Colors like pink are feminine and fun, while black is refined, elegant and professional. If you want purity, white is the way to go.
The first steps to choosing your brand colors
When you’re choosing your brand colors, start with the basics. To get started, you’ll need to pick a primary color that represents your brand. Then, if needs be, you can pick secondary and tertiary colors. It’s important not to select too many colors, as this will convolute your brand image and confuse people.
Think about what type of company you are. Do you want to be a youthful brand that appeals to teenagers? Do you want to be a sports brand for women? Or do you want to be a classy, upmarket clothing brand? The type of brand that you appear to be will be directly influenced by the colors you choose. For more information on color theory and symbolism, read our ‘Creative Ideas to Increase Sales‘ e-book.
Achieving brand recognition using colors
Once customers become familiar with the brand colors that you use, they will start to remember them and they will expect to see them every time they visit your store or website.
Consistency is key here. If you regularly switch around your brand colors, even your most loyal customers will get confused.
That’s why some of the world’s top brands are so strict with how their logo and brand colors are displayed. They know that if their branding is displayed incorrectly, it will directly impact their business.
These top brands’ colors are expertly chosen and perfectly fit their brand image and story. So without further ado, here are the 100 top companies that we chose to take an in-depth look at.
ESM Inbound
ESM Inbound decided that their logo and brand colors should “reflect the bright, primary colours” of their work process.
The brand color palette is inspired by the ESM Inbound office, which is a mosaic of colorful sticky notes.
The ESM Inbound blue, green, orange and pink aren’t only eye-catching to stand out against competition, but there’s a playful, energetic connotation to them which represents the energy they put into their ‘better, faster, happier’ mantra.
Website: esminbound.com
Social Media: facebook.com/ESMinbound
Apple
Apple’s brand colors have always been very fluid, with a variety of colours popping up on their products throughout the years.
The iconic bitten apple logo has recently been cast in either black, white or silver, which is a complete departure from its original rainbow coloration.
These colors are neutral and can be interpreted as being representative of clarity and quality. White and black indicate the simple yet sophisticated look of Apple’s product design.
Website: apple.com
Social Media: facebook.com/apple
Google is a rare exception to the unwritten rule that says having lots of brand colors can harm your brand image and damage brand recognition.
In the Google logo, mostly primary colors are used. However, the secondary color of green is used on the letter L to break up the primary colors.
According to designer Ruth Kedar, this is meant to indicate that Google “doesn’t follow the rules”.
Website: google.com
Social Media: twitter.com/Google
Coca-Cola
The famous red of Coca-Cola has its origins in practicality more than anything else.
Back in the early days of the company, barrels containing Coca-Cola were painted red, so that tax agents could distinguish them from alcohol during transport.
The red branding was so influential that it helped to shape the image of the modern day Santa Claus. In 1931, Coca-Cola began placing ads in popular magazines and commissioned artist Haddon Sundblom to create a new version of St. Nick. The new design took off and has become the universally accepted depiction of Santa.
Website: coca-cola.com
Social Media: twitter.com/cocacola
Microsoft
Microsoft use four main colors to represent their brand. These colors include orange, red, green, blue and yellow.
Like Google, Microsoft utilises this range of colors in a number of its products, such as Microsoft Office, XBox and Windows.
The colors are shown together in combination on Microsoft’s latest logo, which was revealed in 2012.
Website: microsoft.com
Social Media: instagram.com/microsoft
Toyota
Toyota Red is the main brand color of Toyota, who call it “the color of energy.” According to Toyota, it “is highly visible and conveys the Toyota spirit of excitement.”
Their other brand colors include black, white and grey, completing a color scheme that is simple but impactful.
Bright shades of red are very noticeable and can create a sense of urgency when customers are viewing Toyota’s cars.
Website: toyota.com
Social Media: instagram.com/toyota
IBM
IBM uses a wide range of colors that they say are “vibrant and optimistic”. The main logo is a dark blue color that symbolises professionalism and reliability.
They have a design language that allows them to distinguish everything that they design, and it also includes a product palette.
This product palette is made up of eight core colors, 80 full-spectrum colors and a variety of neutral colors.
Website: ibm.com
Social Media: facebook.com/IBM
Amazon
Black is the dominant color in Amazon’s branding and is accompanied by a welcoming shade of yellow.
The black emphasises the text in Amazon’s logo, which uses a bold font that’s easy to read and reproduce. The yellow streak represents Amazon’s dedication to making customers happy and adds lightness to the design.
It’s not only Amazon that uses this tried and tested color combination. Yellow and black is used by many brands to attract the attention of customers.
Website: amazon.com
Social Media: twitter.com/amazon
BMW
BMW takes its blue and white from propeller blades set against a sky background. This is a nod to the company’s origins as an aircraft manufacturer.
The company was also founded in the German state of Bavaria, which uses the same two colors on its flag.
Another color that features in their branding is the black that surrounds the central circle, which alludes to the class and sophistication of BMW’s cars.
Website: bmw.com
Social Media: instagram.com/bmw
McDonald’s
As arguably the world’s most recognisable brand, McDonald’s is something to aspire to for up and coming companies.
The red and yellow colors help to bring customers through a restaurant. Yellow helps to welcome people in and red inspires urgency, directly contributing to McDonald’s rapid turnover of customers.
In Europe however, McDonald’s has introduced dark green instead of red to portray a more eco-friendly image.
Website: mcdonalds.com
Social Media: twitter.com/McDonalds
Burger King
A bright shade of red is the most prominent color that appears in Burger King’s branding, whether that be on its logo or in its restaurants.
Red can also make people hungry. It helps to draw people in to Burger King and encourages them to get some food there.
The yellow in Burger King’s logo directly refers to the many different types of burgers that they have on their menu.
Website: bk.com
Social Media: facebook.com/burgerking
There is one color that comes to mind when you think of Facebook, and that’s blue.
The reason Facebook originally chose to go with blue was actually because founder Mark Zuckerberg is red-green colorblind.
White is used as the background color in the Facebook app and is also used as a secondary color by the brand.
Website: facebook.com
Social Media: facebook.com/facebook
Visa
The dark blue of Visa is intended to symbolise the excellence and reliability of the company.
It conveys to customers that Visa can be trusted, which is important for a company that deals with money.
Visa used to be blue and gold, but over the years they have gradually reduced the gold and now it has been eliminated entirely. Visa wants its brand to appeal to everyone and gold gives the impression of exclusivity.
Website: visa.com
Social Media: instagram.com/visa
Nike
A lot of Nike’s branding is done in black. It’s a classy, sophisticated color, and these are traits which Nike wants its products to be associated with.
However, the iconic swoosh logo is very flexible and it has appeared in a variety of colors throughout the years.
Many brands couldn’t get away with changing their colors like Nike do, but the swoosh gives them such strong brand recognition that they can pull it off.
Website: nike.com
Social Media: twitter.com/Nike
Alibaba
The easily noticeable orange of Alibaba draws customers in and encourages them that they have found a new and exciting way to shop.
It makes Alibaba stand out from its competitors and has fun and energetic connotations.
Orange certainly seems to work for Alibaba, as the company has utterly dominated the e-commerce market in China for many years.
Website: alibaba.com
Social Media: instagram.com/alibaba.com_official
Pepsi
The Pepsi brand colors originally came about during a tumultuous time in history – World War II.
As a show of patriotism, bottle caps of the soft drink were labelled with the red, white and blue of the American flag.
The colors have stayed in use to this day and this means Pepsi can still claim to be a patriotic brand.
Website: pepsi.com
Social Media: facebook.com/pepsi
Ikea
The yellow and blue of Swedish furniture chain Ikea are inspired by the colors of the Swedish national flag.
The contrast of blue and yellow easily stands out and makes all of Ikea’s branding very noticeable.
Blue inspires trust, while the yellow gives you the impression that shopping at Ikea will help you to brighten up your home.
Website: ikea.com
Social Media: twitter.com/ikea
UPS
Big brands that use brown as their brand colors tend to be in the minority, but UPS has been very successful with their distinctive brown branding.
Their slogan, “What can brown do for you?”, is a direct reference to their famous brand colors.
The plus side of having an uncommon color scheme is that your brand will get noticed amongst its competitors.
Website: ups.com
Social Media: instagram.com/ups
Ebay
Ebay’s combination of red, blue, yellow and green is intended to show the diversity of its global marketplace.
The designer of Ebay’s logo was inspired by Apple’s old rainbow logo and the Twister game when she first used the colors.
The multi-coloured logo also stands out well against a white background, which helps to catch the eye of potential customers.
Website: ebay.com
Social Media: facebook.com/ebay
Nescafé
Red is a very suitable color for an instant coffee brand, as it evokes a sense of urgency and action.
It represents the intense taste of Nescafé that coffee drinkers are greeted with every morning.
The shade of red is beautifully vivid. It symbolises warmth and comfort, but it’s still lively and energetic too.
Website: nescafe.com
Social Media: instagram.com/nescafe
Mastercard
Mastercard primarily uses the colors red and yellow in their branding. Red symbolises energy and vitality, while yellow is a sign of happiness and prosperity.
The orange in between can be seen to be the joining of these values under the Mastercard brand.
This idea is even more fitting when you consider that Mastercard was originally founded when 17 banks joined together.
Website: mastercard.com
Social Media: twitter.com/Mastercard
Volkswagen
Excellence and class is the message that Volkswagen want to convey with their blue, grey and white logo.
All of these colors are given official names by Volkswagen – Volkswagen Blau, Chrom and White – and these determine the design of all their visual communications.
Aside from showing that Volkswagen is an esteemed brand, blue symbolises trustworthiness and reliability.
Website: volkswagen.com
Social Media: instagram.com/volkswagen
Nissan
Nissan’s brand colors used to be red and blue, but they have replaced them with silver and black.
The silver and black color scheme brings with it a modern look and gives a sophisticated look to Nissan’s branding.
The colors are consistent with the badges on Nissan’s cars and this gives the brand a uniform look.
Website: nissan-global.com
Social Media: facebook.com/nissan
Starbucks
Starbucks wants it cafés to be a place where customers can come into and relax, which is why they use green as their main brand color.
Green is known for its peaceful and calming aura. It also represents the consistency of Starbucks products.
Starbucks has also been making a push for more energy efficient stores, and green is a good color to represent this move.
Website: starbucks.com
Social Media: instagram.com/starbucks
KFC
Red is often seen as a color that makes people hungry and this makes it a good choice for a fast-food restaurant like KFC.
Red, black and white have been KFC’s brand colors for a long time, but recently the shade of red has gotten slightly darker.
A dark red can also look warm and welcoming, helping to emphasise the hearty smile on Colonel Sanders’ face.
Website: kfc.com
Social Media: twitter.com/kfc
Heineken
Way back in 1864, Heinken became the first beer to appear in a green bottle. Previously, all beer had come in brown glass.
Green made the brand stand out from its competitors and Heineken have continued to use it to this day. It’s seen as a symbol of freshness and purity and is intended to highlight these traits in Heineken’s beer.
Heineken’s red star, which has been accused of Communist associations, pops off the green and white on Heineken’s branding.
Website: heineken.com
Social Media: twitter.com/Heineken
People can slowly develop preferences or dislikes for certain colors based on their emotional experiences with a color over a long period of time. Research has also shown that the pre-conceptions we have about certain colors may date back to early human history.
PayPal
PayPal’s blue palette is easily recognisable, and with their latest brand refresh they’ve made these blues even more vibrant.
PayPal wants its users to know that it is a reliable, safe and secure place to transfer money. Blue is the best color for showing this.
Yellow is another color that PayPal use and this attracts attention to PayPal checkout buttons on a website.
Website: paypal.com
Social Media: facebook.com/PayPal
Monster Energy
Neon green is the primary brand color of energy drink Monster Energy. It’s a color that helps create a brand image that has served the company very well.
This shade of green is an energetic and youthful color that appeals to Monster’s target audience.
Black and white accompany green, which accentuates its brightness. This contrasting color combination works very well on Monster’s drinks cans.
Website: monsterenergy.com
Social Media: instagram.com/monsterenergy
Samsung
Samsung’s brand palette consists of a deep blue, black and white. Samsung makes sure that blue is required on all of their branding.
They believe that blue “builds brand recognition and consistency.” It makes sure that every time someone sees a Samsung logo, they know exactly what the brand is.
Blue is a color that many companies with a telecommunications aspect like to go for, as it conveys trust and security.
Website: samsung.com
Social Media: instagram.com/samsungmobile
Tesla
Tesla is a company that has managed to craft a brand image that has captured public imagination.
It sells itself as more than a car company, but rather a brand that is helping to shape the future. This has proven to be very appealing.
Red is a central part of this brand image, and it is the main color in Tesla’s logo. The bright, energetic and exciting.
Website: tesla.com
Social Media: instagram.com/teslamotors
Adidas
Adidas has one of the world’s most recognisable brands. It appears on such a broad range of products that the brand must use a wide variety of colors.
It’s due to the strength of their famous three stripe logo that Adidas does not need to stick to one single color.
Adidas uses different colors in their wide range of campaigns to convey various meanings about what their products represent.
Website: adidas.com
Social Media: twitter.com/adidas
YouTube
YouTube’s life blood is clicks and therefore it makes sense that they would use red in their branding.
Red is bright and attractive color that’s known to inspire action and it helps to get YouTube’s users clicking on videos.
A lot of their website is white, which makes it easy for all of the video content that’s displayed there to stand out.
Website: youtube.com
Social Media: facebook.com/youtube
Subway
Green and yellow are the two brand colors of Subway and each serve an important purpose in creating the right brand image.
Green is seen as a symbol of health and indicates to customers that Subway is trying to promote healthy eating.
Combined with a joyous yellow, it backs up Subway’s ‘eat fresh’ slogan and helps convince people that they will be happy after eating fresh food at Subway.
Website: subway.com
Social Media: twitter.com/subway
Instagram’s massive rebranding in 2016 was a source of much debate, but the new color scheme has proved to be a massive success.
The brand palette that Instagram uses is youthful and fun and they use it to maintain a very slick brand image both in their app and in the media.
Instagram felt the new brand colors were more reflective of the demographic that actually used the app, so they wisely decided to make a change.
Website: instagram.com
Social Media: instagram.com/instagram
Huawei
Red and black are the two brand colors of Chinese tech company Huawei. The red is strong and vivid, instantly attracting the eye.
Black combines well with red and ensures that all of the text in Huawei’s branding is very easy to see and read.
The color red is symbolic of the exciting new products that Huawei produce and the innovative nature of the brand.
Land Rover
The Land Rover brand has been associated rural landscapes and off-road surroundings since its inception.
This nature-based heritage is reflected in its brand logo, which is a dark shade of green.
Tesco
Britain’s largest supermarket chain has three brand colors that are borrowed from the British flag.
Red is used to represent the happiness that Tesco want people to feel when they do their shopping there.
The color blue is used to showcase the excellence and reliability of the Tesco brand.
Lego
Lego uses many different colors on its bricks, but the main brand colors of the company are red and yellow.
These brand colors are intended to be bright and eye-catching, allowing Lego’s products to easily grab children’s attention.
The Lego brand image is loud and energetic, making these colors the perfect fit for the company.
Xiaomi
The bright orange branding of Xiaomi help to get the Chinese electronics company noticed.
It’s a company that’s been making huge inroads in the Western market, but initially it needed to stand out from its more established competitors.
The orange proved to be successful in helping them do this, as many other brands use more common colors like red and blue.
Ferrari
There are very few vehicles that can match the look of a shiny new red Ferrari and the company make use of this appeal in their branding.
Everything that Ferrari does is imbued with this energetic shade of red that enlivens the senses.
Another color that Ferrari uses a lot is yellow. This vivid yellow is the main color on the company’s logo.
Rolex
Rolex’s green and gold brand colors highlight the excellence and exclusivity of the watches that they make.
Rolex heavily relies on its logo for brand recognition and the distinctive golden crown is a huge part of this.
Green or black are used for the text in the logo and these are two colors that have an air of class and sophistication about them.
Domino’s Pizza
Domino’s brand colors were made to be as bright and appealing as possible. The red, white and blue are easily noticeable by passers by.
Like many of its fast food peers, Domino’s uses red because it is one of the best colors for enticing people to eat.
Red, white and blue is a common color for brands with American origins, like Pepsi and the NBA.
Like Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn goes with a blue color scheme. It’s not a distracting color and encourages users to interact with each other.
It’s a calming, relaxing color that fits in extremely well with the plain white background of the site.
Blue is also seen as very professional, and with LinkedIn work-focused user base, it’s the perfect choice.
Nvidia
The lime green of Nvidia represents the newness and innovation that the company brings to the table.
Nvidia makes graphics processing units for gaming and this shade of green is suited to a gaming theme.
Another factor as to why Nvidia chose green could be do with the computer motherboards it works with, which are predominantly green.
Shell
Shell’s logo used to be an uninspiring black and white until the classic color combination of red and yellow was introduced in 1948.
California was the place where Shell really took off and the choice of colors is associated with the many Spanish settlers who lived in the area.
The red and yellow brand colors are welcoming and feature on all of its filling stations around the world.
CNN
The red of CNN is bold and eye-catching. Red is a color of urgency and helps convince viewers that CNN have breaking news they need to watch.
It creates a sense of anticipation and lets viewers know that they will be engaged and informed by the news.
White is also used as a background on news bulletins to make text easily legible for the station’s viewers.
Android
Green might typically represent growth and freshness, but it can also be viewed as a futuristic color that’s suitable for tech companies and sci-fi.
Android chose it as one of their brand colors and they use it on their logo, which was surprisingly inspired by bathroom door signs.
The designer was given the creative freedom to design the logo she wanted, and her quirky green character definitely fits the bill.
Marvel
The red of Marvel is very eye catching and with the success of its films, the brand logo is easily recognisable.
White, a secondary brand color, is used to make text bold and easy to see. The combination of red and white make it impossible to miss.
A lot of Marvel’s superheroes, such as Iron Man and Spiderman, wear red too. This helps to emphasise red as the dominant brand color.
The sky blue of Twitter helps generate huge brand recognition for the social media giant. Like Facebook and LinkedIn, Twitter knows that blue boosts interaction.
Blue communicates trust and dependability, whereas white displays clarity and Twitter’s ease of use.
Sky blue and white is a very harmonious color combination that works well on a mobile app or a website.
Red Bull
Red Bull gives the person who drinks it a rush of energy, so it’s no coincidence that they use red in their brand color palette.
Red is an intense color that inspires action, and in Red Bull’s logo, it easily catches the eye.
Yellow provides a fitting contrast to red. It’s a stimulating color that’s also very suitable for Red Bull’s product.
NBA
The red, white and blue of the American flag is represented on the iconic logo of the National Basketball Association.
The blue color symbolises the excellence and prestige that is achieved by a player when they get to the NBA.
Red can be interpreted as the passion, desire and work ethic they need to complete that journey.
Brands use CTA buttons, or call-to-actions, to encourage visitors to their site to click on certain links. Red is often a popular color for these buttons, as it inspires urgency and action. Whereas a color like brown is rarely used, as it’s darker and less inviting.
Fleeq
For young companies like Fleeq, purple is often a popular color choice. Since not many brands use purple, it makes the ones who do stand out.
There is a sense of newness and mystery about purple, but also elements of creativity. Fleeq helps users create training videos, which makes purple an apt choice.
White and black is used for Fleeq’s logo and all of the text in the website. This adds some balance to the color scheme.
Reboo
Reboo is a desktop application that lets users reinvent their websites. Yellow is a really good brand color for this type of business, as it represents renewal and optimism.
White and black are combined with yellow on Reboo’s website to form an engaging display that contrasts well.
It’s common practice to use a primary color as your main brand color and then use colors like white and black as supporting colors.
Rocketbots
Rocketbots is a chat automation service that uses blue as its primary brand color.
It might be a big leap for some companies to change over to chat automation, so blue is useful to represent the trustworthiness and security of the product.
The Rocketbots website uses bright orange CTAs that stand out well against the blue background.
AudioHero
AudioHero goes with red as its primary brand color. As we seen with Marvel, red is a very popular color for a superhero theme.
Red is action color and encourages users that AudioHero will take action and save them from their audio woes.
It uses an aqua color on its website for backgrounds, forming a very effective color combination.
Sagefrog
As you might expect from a company called Sagefrog, green is one of their brand colors.
However, Sagefrog uses a few different colors on its website. The combination of green, white and navy give it a relaxed, professional look.
Green is a good choice for a marketing agency like Sagefrog, as it symbolises the growth they will be able to get for their clients.
Manobyte
The orange of Manobyte shows that they are a confident brand that are willing to do what it takes to implement a strategy that grows your revenue.
Orange is also an enthusiastic and energetic color that highlights Manobyte’s eagerness to get the job done.
Grey is used in the brand logo and this provides an engaging contrast with the orange in the design.
Digital 22
Digital 22 has one of the most vivid palettes on this list, and it pays off. It’s hard to not get noticed with the brand colors they’ve chosen.
On Digital 22’s website, bright color is combined with orange, blue and green. While their logo features a blue-purple gradient.
Such a bright color scheme suggests that Digital 22 is a unique brand and helps to convince clients that they can offer them something new.
Transfunnel
Marketing consultancy Transfunnel’s brand colors showcase an excellent combination of blue and lime green.
Green symbolises the growth a client can expect by using Transfunnel’s services and blue represents clarity and honesty.
Transfunnel are trying to communicate that they can be relied on to deliver the success that they promise.
Noisy Little Monkey
Here we have a case of noisy by name, noisy by nature. Noisy Little Monkey have chosen brand colors that quickly get them noticed.
Noisy Little Monkey have a quirky and fun brand image and by using pink and purple colors they emphasise this.
Pink is seen as a youthful and vibrant color. It gives a brand like Noisy Little Monkey a way of appearing different to their competitors.
Direct Development
When a company is called Direct Development, it insinuates that they will achieve quick, straightforward development.
Blue signifies how reliable the company is and orange highlights the speed in which they will get the job done.
The interlocking Ds in the company’s logo brilliantly highlight how they combine the two.
Klood Digital
Klood Digital have quite a varied color palette, but the color combinations still work very well together.
Orange, purple and blue is an intriguing color combination that draws the eye towards Klood Digital’s logo.
Klood Digital is a certified Hubspot partner and the orange branding serves as a way of highlighting this accreditation.
RedPandas
RedPandas is a marketing agency that helps generate and close more leads. They use red in their branding to highlight the energy and intensity with which they go about business.
Like many other companies, RedPandas use red to attract the attention of customers and keep them engaged.
Also, the company is named after the red panda, so it is only natural that their color scheme follows suit.
Next After
Yellow and black is known to be one of the most noticeable color combinations there is. You’ll often see it on warning signs to make sure people are aware of any danger.
Next After have used it to good effect in their brand logo, which can be interpreted as a lightning strike design.
Next After’s mission is to create a “widespread, pervasive personal generosity.” Yellow is seen as a generous color and therefore it represents this mission well.
Brilliant Earth
Green is commonly viewed as the color that stands for environmental causes and nature.
While Brilliant Earth might be a jewellery brand, it’s brand image is aided by the inclusion of green.
It markets itself as a brand who responsibily sources their materials and which has a conscience about how it operates.
Asana
Work management platform Asana use red and a small touch of yellow as their brand colors.
This color combination looks superb on Asana’s logo and is used to great effect on their website too.
Asana have a simple but distinct logo, and the choice of brand colors help to add energy, enthusiasm and enjoyment to it.
Datasift
Datasift uses calming turquoise tones in its logo and on its website. This is complemented by shades of orange and sky blue.
The contrast between turquoise and black in the logo works very well, as it helps to highlight the word data.
DataSift’s parent company Meltwater, who use the same colors, are also reflected in the branding.
The Talko
Online newspaper The Talko emphasises the trustworthiness of its news stories by using blue as its primary brand color.
Its website uses a lot of white for the background and black for the text, which makes it easy to navigate for The Talko’s readers.
Blue, white and black is a reliable color scheme to use for any brand that wants to convey clarity and honesty.
Ultimate Software
Ultimate Software highlights that it is a brand that is conscious about people with a predominantly green color scheme.
Green is a caring, knowledgeable color that is very well suited for a HR company like Ultimate Software.
Prestige can be conveyed through the use of the color green and for a company that describes itself as ‘ultimate’, it’s a fitting choice.
App Nexus
Orange is an invigorating and refreshing color that makes it very easy for people to notice App Nexus.
App Nexus says it “powers the advertising that powers the internet”, and orange is a color that is often used for something that is powering up.
Orange and black is a similar combination to yellow and black, both of which show the effectiveness of a contrasting color scheme.
Boost Media
Violet is a middle ground between blue and purple, which gives brands the opportunity to include multiple meanings in their color schemes.
It’s used by Boost Media to give their customers a sense of their professionalism and reliability.
However, it can also be used to show them that they have a creative side that will deliver results.
Spindrift
Spindrift uses many different brand colors, with each one representing different flavors of their sparkling water.
The design of their can and their logo always remain the same, but the color changes make each can look unique.
This tactic is used by many food and drinks products, but Spindrift go one step further and make their logo completely flexible.
Halo Top
Halo Top has taken the ice cream world by storm and it owes a lot of its huge success to its branding.
Gold catches the eye and helps introduce the ice cream as a shiny new alternative to more traditional brands.
The colorful packaging helps to communicate the exciting, youthful vibes that the brand wants to be associated.
Factor 75
Factor 75 prepares healthy meals for its customers and the green branding reflects its focus on health.
Green emphasises the benefits that ordering these meals from Factor 75 can bring to your diet.
The brand has chosen a lime green that stands out well against the white and grey background of their website.
Cloudbeds
At the mention of the word clouds, our minds are instantly cast skywards. Cloudbeds’ logo makes use of this association with a blue colored design.
White is a huge part of Cloudbed’s logo and website too, and it’s a color that really ties into the story of the brand.
Cloudbeds helps people manage properties and the color blue indicates to customers that their property is in safe hands.
Creating new and interesting names for the colors you use on your branded products has been found to increase purchase intent. Halo Top for example, a brand we’ve included on our list, use names like ‘pancakes and waffles’, ‘candy bar’ and ‘birthday cake’ more often than ‘strawberry’ or ‘chocolate’.
Concurra
Concurra uses a superb shade of purple as its brand color, conveying its creativity and quality in the process.
It markets itself as the world’s most advanced interaction tracker and purple is a suitable color for emphasising prestige and innovation.
It’s a bright purple that pops off a web page and makes it easy for customers to see what Concurra are all about.
Patient Pop
Patient Pop are leaders in practice growth and their primary brand color emphasises what they do.
It’s a light shade of green that exudes positivity and adds a fresh look to Patient Pop’s website.
When one of your main functions as a business is to help people grow, choosing green is a no brainer.
Tikkun Olam Makers
Tikkun Olam Makers is a global movement that uses a mixture of colors which symbolise the diversity of the organisation and the people they help.
It’s a colorful combination that emphasises the good work that’s being done and encourages people to donate.
They use blue to highlight the members of the movement, green for the communities and orange for its projects.
CAVA
Yellow is used by CAVA to hint at the welcoming and friendly atmosphere they want visitors to their restaurants to experience.
CAVA was founded by three close friends and friendship remains at the core of everything that they do.
Yellow is the perfect color to use for a business like this and it shines brightly on all of CAVA’s branding.
Back to the Roots
Back to the Roots is a company that’s true to its name, as it helps reconnect families with where their food comes from.
That means showing them how to grow it themselves from the comfort of their own kitchen.
It’s no surprise that such a natural company uses the colors of blue and green, the two colors most commonly associated with all things nature.
Krave Jerky
A greenish brown and lime green are the two main colors in Krave Jerky’s brand color palette.
Brown is a natural choice here as it’s the color of the company’s product, while green symbolises the nutrition it brings.
The combination of the two colors alludes to the mixture of natural ingredients contained in the jerky.
Curves
The purple logo of women’s fitness brand Curves acts as a symbol of femininity and elegance.
It highlights that Curves is dedicated to women and wants to help them achieve their fitness goals.
On the Curves website, purple is complemented by lighter colors such as white and aqua.
Kong
Kong is a dog toy brand and it provides lots of exciting toys for dogs around the world to play with.
It’s fitting that they use red in their brand color palette, as it’s a color that’s traditionally associated with excitement.
While this might not get humans excited, it still makes the brand very visible to potential customers.
Zuke’s
The idea of dog treat brand Zuke’s was thought up on a hike, and this is represented in their logo, which shows mountain peaks.
The mountains have an orange glow that is further enhanced by the sun-drenched yellow sky above it.
The yellow and orange combination convey the happiness a dog will feel when they snack on one of Zuke’s treats.
Suja
Suja creates a wide variety of great drinks for many different lifestyles, and this creativity is alluded to with a purple logo.
Suja’s brand colors also include green, which hints at the natural origins of all their products.
Together, purple and green make an interesting color combination that helps create Suja’s fresh, youthful image.
How to Choose Your Brand Colors Plus 10 Examples to Learn From
From the yellow helmet of a construction worker to a bride’s pristine gown, colors are quick to convey important information. Their strong and immediate impact make color palettes a crucial component of any business’s branding efforts.
The color scheme you’ll assemble for your brand will play a key role across your various marketing assets - from the way you create your own logo, to the design of your website, and much more. Employing brand colors consistently and across all platforms can result in a unified look-and-feel to your company, making them memorable and recognizable.
To help your business stand out with the right brand colors, this complete guide covers everything from what brand colors are all about, to a step-by-step process for choosing your own. We’ve also selected and analyzed 10 examples of successful brand colors for your inspiration:
How to choose your brand colors
Establish your brand identity
Explore color meanings
Search for inspiration
Pick your primary color
Choose your secondary colors
Select neutral colors
Test your brand colors
What are brand colors?
Brand colors are a palette of around five to ten colors that are used to represent a certain company. A consistent and strategic application of brand colors can increase brand awareness and recognizability.
Some of the main applications of brand colors include: a company’s logo, website color scheme, social media channels, business card design, and print and digital ads. For businesses operating as brick-and-mortar, the brand colors can also apply to the design of the store, staff uniforms, product packaging, and more.
01. Establish your brand identity
The colors of your brand are a reflection of your brand identity. Your color palette should therefore align with your values and the messaging that you wish to communicate.
For this purpose, you’ll need to first define your brand identity. A recommended practice for this is to compose a list of adjectives that describe your company’s character, as if you were talking about a person. Ask yourself how you’d like the brand to be perceived, and what sets it apart from the competition.
The following spectrum of brand identity traits is key for building a brand, and can help you pinpoint the core of your brand more easily:
02. Explore color meanings
Now that you’ve identified your brand personality, it’s time to choose the colors to make it shine through. In doing so, it’s worth looking into color psychology principles for common color meanings.
However, it’s also important to mention that color is not an exact science, and there’s no equation to accurately define which color means what. This is where color combinations come in, as they help in achieving a look that evokes certain feelings through their juxtaposition.
To understand this, think of the difference in the meaning of the color blue when it’s paired with gold - conjuring notions of royalty and luxury - as opposed to the same blue, but paired with pink - which tends to feel much more playful.
Colors can mean different things depending on the colors they’re paired with, as well as on context and cultural connotations. There are, however, clear trends in color use based on industry. To help you choose the right color palette for your business, here’s a quick breakdown of popular brand colors by a few main industries:
Food: Many food and restaurant businesses opt for warm colors that draw attention and evoke appetite, such as red, orange and yellow. Other food brands choose green to promote connection with nutrition and wellbeing, or blue and pink for sweets and deserts.
Health and wellness: Most health and wellness companies choose blue to signify cleanliness, trustworthiness and responsibility. Other popular options are green, representing nature and wholesomeness, and orange, which can bring up ideas of vitality and energy.
Fashion and beauty: The fashion and beauty industries often use black for sophistication and glamour, and warm colors such as red, orange and pink for passion, confidence and excitement.
High-tech: Tech companies most commonly go for blue, which symbolizes trust, intelligence, and efficiency. Additional colors are orange, which is friendly and optimistic, and purple, which stands for quality and creativity.
03. Search for inspiration
As a final step before crafting your brand colors, look around for color inspiration. Browse through your competitors’ palettes, and try and understand what it is that makes them work well. Think of what you can learn from their color choices, and of ways in which you can differentiate yourself from the competition.
Other great sources of inspiration are online color palette generators, where you can find ideas for interesting color pairings and mesmerizing shades.
To get your creative ideas flowing, we’ve gathered 10 successful brand colors and analyzed what it is that we like about them. Scroll down towards the bottom of the article to feast your eyes on some beautiful colors.
04. Pick your primary color
Your brand’s primary color, or core color, is the one most associated with your brand. Think of the signature Tiffany’s Blue or Pinterest’s red.
For your primary color, look for a single color that best embodies your business based on color meanings. You can experiment with different shades and tints of the color you have in mind, going from lush and dark to soft and pastel, or even bright neon, in order to find the perfect look.
05. Choose your secondary colors
Once you have your primary color, pick two to four colors to go along with it. These colors will compliment your primary one, and can either appear next to it or independently. A brand’s secondary colors can go in a few different directions:
Analogous color scheme: These are close variants of your primary color. This means that if your primary color is bright red, you can add other warm colors (such as orange and yellow) that belong to the same color family. Analogous color schemes are usually harmonious and pleasant in their appearance.
Monochromatic color scheme: These are different shades and tints of your primary color. For example, if your primary color is blue, your secondary colors can be light blue and dark blue. Monochromatic color schemes can strengthen and enhance your core color.
Contrasting color schemes: Contrasting colors are either complementary colors (seated across from each other on the color wheel), or a selection of colorful, equally-vibrant hues. This color scheme can help your brand colors pop and usually gives off a fun and modern feel.
06. Select neutral colors
When crafting your brand colors, it’s easy to focus on the main colors and overlook the neutrals. However, neutral colors are important as they are the ones in charge of most of your communication (such as the color of your written text) and will appear in the background of most of your assets.
Neutral colors are usually white or black, often combined with a few shades of gray.
07. Test your brand colors
Once you’ve picked your colors, place them all together and test them in a few different combinations to make sure they complement one another, and convey the message you were aiming for.
In order to make your website accessible, you should also test your palette for in order to make sure that they’re clearly legible together. There are plenty of online resources and browser plugins that test color contrast for accessibility. Contrast Checker and Colour Contrast Analyser are two such tools that we recommend.
10 inspirational brand colors that work
1. Starbucks
Starbucks’ brand colors are based on a family of greens, combined with four neutral colors. Their primary color is that of the Siren logo - an iconic shade referred to as “Starbucks Green.”
The expanded color palette merges this primary green, alluding to the brand’s rich heritage, with other “fresh and inviting” hues. These include an accent green and two secondary greens.
2. Instagram
The Instagram brand colors are a gradient of blue to yellow, with a wide range of purples, pinks and oranges in between. This gradient is a reinterpretation of the brand’s rainbow from its earlier, skeuomorphic logo.
This rich color spectrum is meant to evoke feelings of “warmth and energy.” It’s also a tribute to the importance of color in the app’s filters, community uploads, and more.
3. Slack
Slack’s color palette is just as refined as it is playful. It features four primary colors - white, black and two shades of aubergine purple. Accompanying those are blue, green, yellow and red, serving as accent colors.
In Slack’s case, it’s the accent colors that take center stage in the logo, and not its primary aubergine. Coming together to form an octothorpe, the four colors bring to mind notions of teamwork and collaboration.
04. The Guardian
The Guardian is most associated with its navy blue and bright yellow shades. Yet for a platform this rich in content, colors take part in more than brandability alone. They also serve as a navigational tool, by distinguishing between types of editorial content.
For example, red marks news articles, orange is for opinion pieces, and brown is for cultural topics. Each of these colors comes in a selection of variants, depending on their application: dark, main, pastel and faded. These allow for flexibility in color use.
05. Google
Google has one of those timeless logo designs that we all know by heart. And just like the design itself, the four colors of the logo (blue, red, yellow and green) are equally synonymous with the company. Those are the brand’s primary colors, along with white which is also predominant in Google interfaces.
The secondary Google colors are darker versions of the primary ones. Those are followed by tertiary light blue and light green, and a range of grays that serve as the neutral colors in delivering information, such as in written text.
06. Lyft
Lyft is well-known for their signature pink. Yet surprisingly, the primary brand palette is composed of white as the main color, followed by black, and only then - the Lyft Pink. This ratio is meant to instill the pink with greater meaning, making it stand out in the times it is used.
The brand’s secondary palette is much more encompassing, including 40 different colors - from greens and yellows to blues and oranges. These are used to support the main brand colors, and take a back seat in crafting their brand identity.
07. Dell
The Dell brand colors are divided into three tiers. The first tier includes the company’s core colors, with the signature Dell Blue as the primary color, giving off a “vibrant and energetic” feel. The three shades of blue act as the foundation to the rest of the palette.
The second tier is made up of three accent colors (purple, berry, and orange) and five neutrals (white and a range of grays). Last is the third tier, which features three additional accent colors. An exception to this palette is black, which can be used for text or in the logo, but not as a design element.
08. Dropbox
Dropbox’s primary brand colors are blue, black and white. But there’s much more to it, as the main focus here is the versatility of different color combinations. Dropbox boasts 18 brand colors that produce a total of 32 different pairings.
Dropbox’s rich color spectrum is intended to generate unique mixes that go together well, leading to “interesting and often unusual combinations.” This unique visual language is achieved through dynamic, mix-and-match variations, rather than through unification and standardization.
09. Mastercard
The Mastercard logo is composed of two overlapping circles, one red and the other yellow, which together produce a bright shade of orange. This same orange is also the company’s primary color, accompanied by two shades of gray (light and dark) as the background colors.
The secondary colors in the Mastercard color palette are gold, yellow and green, and the accent colors are red and teal.
10. Airbnb
There are five Airbnb brand colors. The most prominent among them is pink (called Rausch), which is also the color of the brand’s logo, and is used repeatedly in the company's website design. The pink is joined by a turquoise shade, an orange, and two grays - dark and light.
By Eden Spivak
Design Expert & Writer
Coming up with a set of brand colors is an essential part of the journey that every company needs to take on its way to developing brand identity. The bulk of our users come from brands running the gamut of marketing to small businesses. This is why we’ve created a feature called “Brand Colors”. Want to jump right into using Piktochart? Create a free account here.
Having a deep understanding of how certain colors make consumers feel, and also whether those colors actually represent your brand, is an essential step to crafting your brand identity.
This is why we put together a list of brands, large and small, that have nailed it in terms of their brand identity and the visual assets that they’ve created—to both inspire and help you create a winning set of brand colors.
Food & Beverage
1. Talor Jorgen Coffee – This Norwegian coffee roastery uses pastel versions of the primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) to communicate its warm and playful brand identity.
2. Gold Bar Whiskey – As an aptly named whiskey brand, Gold Bar Whiskey’s packaging is literally shaped like a gold bar. By using a color palette that includes gold and black, this brand feels sleek, premium, and very fun when the product is stacked.
3. Omakse Room – This Japanese omakase (phrase meaning “I’ll leave it up to you” in Japanese) restaurant uses only white and red—the colors of the Japanese flag. The result is clean and sophisticated, with the motif of red circles used throughout the branding as a nationalistic nod.
4. Hurly Burly Live Cultures – A food brand that uses bright, playful, and quirky colors to represent its brand of fermented foods. Its color palette is drawn from the actual food colors themselves.
5. H+J – This UK catering business uses bold colors to convey the different personalities of their many events, ranging from street food to office lunches. Represented by cheerful yellow, fiery red, cool green, and sophisticated grape.
Create infographics, presentations, reports, flyers or posters online, with Piktochart. Just sign up here and try it out for free. With Pro, you will be able to easily extract your brand colors and use them in your visuals.
6. The Street Food Collective – This food brand’s color palette is reminiscent of a 50’s diner scene and is made up of vintage hues. It fits their branding to a tee.
7. Flor de Viento – An organic health food shop from Mexico. It uses yellow to represent energy, light, and a brand new start—which is fitting for anyone looking to swap in a better diet. The weather vane and rooster also signifies their connection with farm produce.
Lifestyle
8. Rasaru – A Japanese men’s perfume brand that uses orange and white in its color palette. The orange, in this case, was likely meant to evoke feelings of vitality and confidence in consumers.
9. Bassetti Home Innovation – This Italian home textile brand uses a set of primary and secondary colors to convey innovation, ease, bravery, novelty, and freshness.
10. Tour & Travel – A London-based travel startup that uses sun orange and ocean blue as its two brand colors. Fairly fitting for this brand identity.
11. Blue Saigon – A Vietnamese button-making family business that uses indigo as its primary brand color. The color indigo has cultural and historical significance to Vietnam, as the indigo plant grows in the country’s northern highlands and is used to dye a lot of their fabric.
12. Mutual Attraction – This London-based matchmaking service uses pastel pinks and greens as its main colors, which feel modern, youthful, fun, and reliable.
13. NAU – This Australian furniture design company derives its color palettes from Australia’s diverse landscapes, and the results are really something.
Digital
14. Cashtree – An Indonesian digital rewards startup that uses radical red and royal blue, also includes red to purple gradient, to make up its brand colors. This color palette represents the “fun” and “diverse” aspect of the brand.
15. Mobu – An Argentinian mobile retail brand that uses bright colors to communicate its fun, hip, and youthful approach to business. They use electric green, red, and yellow, which are starkly contrasted with dark green and grey.
16. SM Protect – This systems security firm uses all green, with white as an offset color, to represent its brand identity. Green works well for them as it has deep emotional associations with safety.
17. Hidden Characters – This creative agency uses orange as its primary brand color, which bursts forth with brightness, energy, enthusiasm, and creativity. Works in their favor.
18. Wokine – This design agency and startup studio uses red and yellow as its main brand colors, which exude creativity, energy, and lightheartedness.
19. Waaark – This creative web studio builds custom-designed websites for its clients, and uses pastel reds and blues that are both elegant and playful.
Big Brands
20. Dropbox – Blue is probably the most universally-preferred color and this file sharing service uses it to reflect reliability, trustworthiness, and communication—which works well for a collaboration tool like Dropbox.
21. Google – The search engine giant’s original logo, designed by Ruth Kedar back in 1998 used the same colors you see today. She said it best: “The colors evoke memories of child play, but deftly stray from the color wheel strictures so as to hint to the inherent element of serendipity creeping into any search results page.”
22. Uber – The controversial ride-hailing service’s original colors of blue, black, and grey offer an indication of a cool, sophisticated, and reliable premium service. Due to its latest rebrand though, Uber began introducing splashes of color to its palette by presenting different mood boards as per each of the countries it was operating in.
23. Lufthansa – Although they use blue like most airlines, Lufthansa also ventured into the rare use of yellow to signify brightness, optimism, exclusivity, and daring.
24. Asana – As a part of their rebrand, the Asana team wanted its brand colors to appear to be balancing clarity with energy. While clarity is the feeling of being on top of things, energy is the feeling of making progress. By using bright and colorful gradients, Asana’s new logo does just that.
25. Evernote – As a productivity app, Evernote uses green as its resting color, to evoke a sense of stability and peace in its users.
26. SpaceX – As a part of SpaceX’s rebranding, a lucky design student in LA was tasked with creating the space exploration company’s new brand identity. The color palette is fairly aligned with the company’s interplanetary transport goals, which uses Mars gold, galactic orange, space maroon, and infinite black. 
27. National Geographic – With its iconic yellow frame representing a window or portal to the world, National Geographic’s yellow is best associated with knowledge of wisdom.
28. Bang & Olufsen – This high-end Danish consumer electronics company uses a sleek and warm color palette to represent its aesthetically pleasing and functional products.
29. Spotify – the hip digital music service that everyone uses leverages the color green to likely represent freshness and vitality, something essential to a music brand.
30. Airbnb – The online accommodations marketplace uses colors that reflect passion and emotion, without the aggressive energy of a bright red. The purpose of these colors was to represent the idea of being able to belong anywhere.
31. The Grand Budapest Hotel – This majestic early 1900 establishment is home to legendary concierge M. Gustave, and also the stuff of Wes Anderson’s dreams. The hotel’s use of royal purple, sand, rose, salmon, and olive, present a feeling of warmth and luxury. 
Inspired and want to get creating? Here’s how.
1. Open up the Piktochart editor, click on “Brand Colors” under your user drop-down menu.
2. Welcome to the ‘Brand Colors’ tool! Here, you’ll be able to create your very own brand palette. One option is to use HEX codes, or our color picker, to create your palette.
3. Or, you’ll have the option to click on ‘Browse Images’ and grab colors from an image of your choice. If you were inspired by any of the brand colors in the above post, this is where our tool will come in handy.
Check out our brand colors Pinterest board for further inspiration. And don’t forget to sign up for Piktochart, there are hundreds of visuals templates so you don’t need to start from scratch! Happy brand coloring!
The Non-Designers Guide to Color for Social Media.
Now that we have got our copy ready, we are almost ready to move on to designing Pins.
First though we need to consider the colors or colors schemes we will be using.
The brain processes color 60,000 times quicker than text and prompt subconscious responses, so color can have a impact on a social media posts conversion rate, be it Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook or another platform.
Assuming you have brand colors and are happy with them, the most common advice given by experts is to stick to your brand colors and fonts. Generally, this is good advice, as it will make your marketing look professional and your prospects comfortable in that when they reach your blog/landing page, your message is consistent.
However different colors appeal to different people and different colors match different genres better. In addition, different cultures perceive colors differently so don't take the color psychology guide below as gospel.
There is no one size fits all, so it's imperative when working with colors, to A/B test to find what works best for your audience.
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A starter to think about with color, is a study done by Curalate in 2013, who looked at a database of millions of images shared on Pinterest along with information how these images were shared, liked, or commented upon.
The Curalate team concluded that red and pink tones outperfrom Blue by 2X and faces did not perform as well as abstract objects.
Studies I have made of my own images and other marketers findings is that color doesn't seem to make that much of a difference as long as the colour is bright and vibrant. One of my best performing pins is bright yellow. In other words it stands out but testing is the only way to find out for yourself.
How to select Colours that go together
A color wheel comprises twelve color families which are known as the Hue.
Red, red-orange, orange, yellow-orange, yellow, yellow-green, green, blue-green, blue, blue-violet, violet, and red-violet.
The most basic way to choose colors is to match opposite colors on the color wheel which are known as complementary colors.
These colors will give high contrast. If you want less contrast, select four colors next to each other on the wheel or two shades of two colors. We know this as analogous colors.
You can also choose one color with four different tints which creates a monochromatic color scheme.
Other methods of selecting colors are to pick a color and then chose the 4th color on the color wheel, e.g. on the wheel above Red, yellow and blue. You can also create a rectangle e.g. green, orange, blue and red on the wheel above.
Colors on the right of the wheel are considered warm colors and on the left, cool. Picking a mixture from both sides can provide balance.
A fantastic resource for selecting colors is Color hunt
Color Psychology
This is a generalization because colors come in different shades and hues and appeal to people differently. However, men seem to prefer blue, green and black and dislike brown, orange, purple.
Women appear to prefer green, turquoise, purple and lavender and dislike orange, brown and grey.
As both sexes age the popularity of green decreases and the dislike of orange increases. The dislike of purple and brown decreases.
As said previously you must test identical pins but with different colors to see if it is effecting your click though rate.
Brand colors pinterest
Pinterest Colors
The official Pinterest colors are Pinterest Red and white. We recommend using the Pinterest color palette for personal projects and in the case of commercial use to visit the company website. The color codes: RGB, CYMK for print, Hex for web and the Pantone colors can be seen below.
Pinterest color codes: RGB, CMYK, Pantone, Hex
| Pinterest Red | Hex color: | #E60023 |
|---|---|---|
| RGB: | 230 0 35 | |
| CMYK: | 3 100 98 0 | |
| Pantone: | PMS 2035 C |
Pinterest logo
- The Pantone colors are confirmed by the Brand Guidelines.
- The Pinterest hex colors are confirmed by the SVG logo on Pinterest’s website.
5 Steps to Choosing Branding Colors That Will Suit Your Brand
This study shows that 62‐90% of a product assessment is based on branding colors alone.
It’s not a secret anymore that the branding colors you choose to represent your brand can affect how consumers perceive you. Yes, color psychology matters, and if used correctly can boost not only the recognizability of your business but also directly influence your returns.
Previously, in one of our articles we briefly touched on the subject of color psychology, and today we’re expanding on that. Once done with the post you’ll learn:
- The meaning of colors;
- What colors are more suitable for certain industries;
- How to choose the color palette for your business, and more!
How powerful are the colors exactly?
In short, very. People do not see colors as colors; they convey associations, emotions, cultural meanings, and even symbolic experiences from centuries ago. Like, green and brown are seen as symbols of grass, nature, and ground.
Knowing what rings a certain bell in the mind of your customer is a powerful weapon that is widely used in today’s marketing and branding techniques.
Example: Food companies often use the color red in their branding, as it’s known to spark the appetite, and scream urgency, thus creating a FOMO effect of sorts. McDonald’s or Taco Bell are the perfect examples.
As a brand, you need to create an unbreakable emotional bond with your client: this will ensure they see you as a friend, advising good products, and not just a company trying to sell something. This is where you should concentrate on getting those branding colors just right.
But how do I choose?
This is where it gets tricky. There are more than 6 million colors, it is understandably hard to choose among them. But we’re here to help!
In this section, we’ll guide you step-by-step through the process of picking the right branding colors: some advice from personal experience.
1. Color = the brand’s message
The first step for you would be to determine your brand.
- What is your mission?
- What emotion would you like to be evoking?
- What image do you want to establish?
- What associations you’d like your customers to have when thinking about your brand?
These are the questions you need to answer before getting into the colors. Why?
As said earlier, colors are capable of sending a strong message and evoke certain emotions. Let’s say a company’s mission is to help orphan children find their homes. Using reds or oranges will not align well with it, as they scream warnings, urgency, and energy.
2. Study color codes
Yellow, a color of joy and positivity.
Yellow has a strong association with the sun, thus bringing up the feeling of warmth, summer, friendliness. Yellow has also the ability to stand out among other colors, concentrating viewers’ attention on the highlighted area.
Example. Snapchat
Brand book style: friendly, outgoing, extraverted, fun.
Brand’s mission: “We believe that reinventing the camera represents our greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate.”
Color palette: ‘We love yellow. It is one of our most important brand elements. Say hello to Snap yellow.’
Orange, the color of friendliness, and trustworthiness.
Being a combination of the joyful yellow and eye-grabbing red, orange is radiating both friendliness and energy. Oftentimes used in brands working with teens and young adults as target audiences.
Red, a color of energy and passion.
Bright, young, and energetic, red is believed to raise blood pressure and increase the heart rate. It is widely associated with a feeling of excitement, urgency, and even aggressiveness.
Example. Pinterest
Brand book style: funky, eye-catching, friendly, cozy, trustworthy.
Brand’s mission: to bring everyone the inspiration to create a life they love.
Color palette: Pinterest can be easily identified by their signature color called Pinterest red.
Purple, a color of royalty and exclusiveness.
Using purple as a branding color can give your customers a feeling of being included in a special circle, of them being special. It is also often given the properties of creativity, imagination, mysteriousness, and elegance.
Example. Yahoo
Brand book style: exuberant, inspiring, excited, joyful.
Brand’s mission: to inspire, delight, and entertain.
Color palette: a primary purple – a bright shade termed as “grape jelly” and secondary purples known as “hulk pants” and “malbec”, as well as accent colors.
Black, the color of sophistication, and richness.
A popular color, that will never go out of fashion. Elegant, strict, and powerful it is perfect for selling expensive goods.
White, a color of purity and elegance.
White color is generally considered to be simple, innocent, and noble. Customers seem to trust the brands that incorporate white into their designs.
Example both for white and black colors. Apple.
Brand book style: sophisticated, elegant, simple, passionate.
Brand’s mission: to bring the best personal computing products and support to students, educators, designers, scientists, engineers, businesspersons and consumers in over 140 countries around the world.
Color palette: a minimalistic color combination, that is now widely associated with this brand is: silver, black and white.
Blue, the color of relaxation, and safety.
Blue is associated with security and reliability; reminding of the sea and ocean, this color is all about relaxation and stress relief. Having the ability to inspire confidence, this is one of the most popular branding colors.
Example. Behance
Brand book style: professional, trustworthy, creative, inspiring.
Brand’s mission: empowering the creative world to make ideas happen.
Color palette: Keeping to a rather conservative color palette, Behance’s main colors are ribbon blue, blueberry, and celeste.
Green, the color of nature, and health.
As we have mentioned earlier green is a color of nature: brands that want to appear organic, healthy, fresh are widely using it as their branding color.
Example. Spotify
Brand book style: bold, rich, lively, active, electric.
Brand’s mission: to unlock the potential of human creativity by giving a million creative artists the opportunity to live off their art and billions of fans the opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by it.
Color palette: Spotify has always been green, and that won’t change. While embracing a much more colorful language in brand communications, Spotify Green is the brand’s resting color, used only in situations where the brand palette is not being used.
3. Analyze competitors
The last thing you want is to spend a lot of time creating an awesome visual identity with what seemed to be perfect branding colors, and for it to end up looking exactly the same as your competitor’s.
Within the same industry, it is very easy to get stuck on one or two colors conveying that perfect ‘vibe’ you’re going for. By analyzing your competitors’ color palettes you can move beyond the boundaries and create something that will stand out – visually and emotionally.
4. Consider cultural differences
If you are targeting an audience of a certain country – this is another thing that needs to be decided beforehand – make sure you’re aware of the color culture of that region.
Though mostly all colors evoke similar emotions worldwide, there are some exceptions tightly bound to the historical experiences rooted in a certain nation’s mind.
For example, generally considered a happy color, yellow is associated with death and mourning in Latin America and the Middle East. Same with white – a symbol of purity in the West, in Asia, it is used at funerals and represents sterility, mourning, unhappiness, and misfortune.
5. Consider where will your colors be used
Here’s a list of places you will need to be using your colors:
- logo
- website
- storefront
- in-store design
- staff uniforms
- Advertisements
☝? Tip: If your business has to do with printing, or you’ll need a lot of print-outs, an overly colorful palette will be more expensive to print. Try going with something simpler.
Bottom Line
Picking branding colors is not easy and should be approached with a great deal of thought. Make your visual coherent with the message you’re spreading; there is no need to be confusing people – even if it’s a subconscious uneasiness called by the dissonance of the mission and visual representation.
Picked Your Colors? Add them to Your Brand Guidelines!
Gingersauce is a professional tool for creating brand guidelines, that combines smart automation and your creativity. It’s a professional tool – meaning, it won’t do a half-baked job, leaving you with a mediocre result.
A key component of brand guidelines keeping a record of your brand colors: Gingersauce will gather all your visuals in one place and will help you make sure your brand design stays consistent and cohesive. You can download a created brand book right away – it will look promising even with no customization!
Create My Brand Guidelines
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